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It Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time...
(From the journal of Erian Ilphelkiir) FizzWidget the Gnome, proprieter of Noggins and Baubles or some such establishment, put out a call for companions to assist him in investigating some "supposedly dwarvish" ruins to the North. His area of interest seemed to be artifacts and knowledge of no interest to me, but the possibility of gems and arcane technology called to me, so I gathered a small group of travellers to accompany us on our search. In retrospect, it may have been better to include actual dwarfs, or at least companions who could see in the dark, but we all came home wealthier and stronger, so I cannot complain. We journeyed a day's march to the north, to the foot of the mountains which are visible from town. The night was uneventful, but early morning watches saw the absolute disappearance of all woodland life. It turns out that there was a very young red dragon in the area. Blaming us for frightening away the animals (the nerve), he insisted on eating us for breakfast. However, we were a hardy crew, and slew the beast with barely a second thought. Those interested in purchasing Premium Dragon's Blood should speak with Angus McFife, the dragonborn alchemist. We arrived at the entrance to the dwarf stronghold - there was no "supposedly" about it. The entrance was hewn from the mountainside, skillfully designed to look like a dwarven war helmet. The entrance led into a long, downward spiralling tunnel with no exits, adorned with a fascinating account of a society's progress in technology. It did not have a happy ending, however, and seemed to indicate that something, somewhere, had gone terribly wrong. At the end of the tunnel, we found ourselves in a cavern vast enough to house an entire city - which indeed, it did. We were immediately accosted by some sort of drone, which threatened us with arrest for breaking curfew if we did not immediately return to our homes. Since we had reached the place it was our intention to explore in the first place, I decided it would be better to go forth willingly than under arrest, so I set off for the city, in company with the drone and Sir Archibald, whose presence had made avoiding detection impossible for most of our party. Once in the city, I chose an abandoned-looking house to pretend was our dwelling, but to our surprise, it still contained its dwarven inhabitants - in fact, there was an entire civilization present, under thrall to the technology it had created. The drones had risen and conquered their masters, converting their strongholds into factories to replicate themselves, and stealing away the dwarves' life-essences to power their mechanical army. The dwarves' resistance effort was insufficient, and as they agreed to ket us keep any spoils we could find, we agreed to help with an imminent effort to re-take one of the three factories. Thanks to the distractive power of the undentable Sir Archibald, the silent sharp-shooting of Azrael (I believe he prefers to be called the Angel of Death), the remarkable healing abilities of Father Isaac Brown, and the battle skills of Angus and myself, we were able to break through the automatons' defenses and destroy the machines and factory works, liberating the souls of many from imprisonment. I left behind a method of contacting me, should the resistance below require surface help for another sabotage effort. There are Drow down below as well! I desire to know more about our neighbors to the north.